Top Twenty Relationship Issues: Which
Ones Does Your Relationship Have?

Every beautiful relationship has bad
patches that either makes it stronger if dealt properly or leave a sour taste
if allowed to grow beyond control. Here are some general problems that may
come in the course of a loving relation.

1. Incompatibility: You love each
other and that is what brought you together. However, somewhere down the
lane you may realize that you have nothing in common. You both do not think
alike on most of the issues. This incompatibility gnaws on a relationship
like a mite.

2. Communication gap: Lack of
communication can create an unfathomable gap between the lovers and ultimately
foster relationship-killing misunderstandings.

3. Staleness: If there is nothing
about the relationship that excites the partners, they end up getting bogged
down with feelings of monotony. When this happens not too much can stop turning
the monotonous decay into infidelity or a breakup.

4. Cheating: Cheating spouses and
lovers can do more harm to the bond of love than anything else. Infidelity
is one of the most destructive relationship problems.

5. Lack of commitment: Neither
of you should take your relationship for granted. So, if either of you lacks
in commitment towards it, you are straining the bond. Additionally, you should
not only be committed to each other, but you should both be equally committed
to the relationship itself. Treat your relationship as if it were an entity
all in itself, and be committed to that entity.

6. Bad sex: Sex is a vital part
of a love relationship. Once the partners are unable to give each other sexual
satisfaction, the relationship starts souring. Also, staleness and predictability
in sex may take the pleasure away from it.

7. High expectations: Statements
like "If you loved me you would....." and unacknowledged and unfulfilled
expectations can take a toll in love relationships. Too many and too tall
expectations can push your relationship to an end. Accept your partner as
is, limitations and all, because they only know how to be
themselves.

8. Taking for granted: The
relationship becomes an unwanted burden when either of the partners starts
taking each other for granted. Being compatible does not mean getting into
each other's comfort zone, and it also doesn't mean assuming that you are
welcomed there.

9. No trust: Trust is a cornerstone
of any relationship. Once it is gone, the relationship won't take too long
to follow it right out the door.

10. Complaining about your relationship
to others: When partners trust others more than each other and then involve
those others in their relationship problems, the situation only gets worsened
rather than getting alleviated.

11. Long distance: Absence makes
the heart grow fonder, but after too long an absence 'out of sight out of
mind' becomes more the motto. This is the case in most long distance
relationships.

12. Growing out of the relationship:
Many young people who fall in love in their early twenties or teens grow
past the relationship once they get on with their careers or other aspects
of their adult life. But this is not just particular of young romances, as
even older relationships sometimes have the misfortune of one or both partners
growing in a different direction than the one they were in at the start of
the relationship.

13. Too demanding partner: A too
demanding partner, who is dominating and also demeaning, often alienates
the other partner. Partnership shouldn't mean ownership.

14. Abuse: Physical; emotional;
mental; psychological; or verbal abuse is like a death sentence to love,
respect, and admiration.

15. No space: Being too possessive
or expecting your partner to be around 24/7 is a sure way to add problems
to your relationship. Insecurity or trust issues often leads to excessive
jealousy and 'policing' the other's every move. Excessive jealousy makes
one look 'ugly'. Plain and simple.

16. False Fantasy: Life is not
a bed of roses and neither is it like mushy romance novels. False fantasy
can leave you frustrated and your relationship soured.

17. Personal unhappiness: If you
are determined to torment yourself into oblivion, no good relationship can
make you happy or stay with you for too long. You cannot expect another to
'fix' you.

18. No time for each other:
Workaholics or self-obsessed people do not have healthy loving
relationships.

19. Male/Female ego: Guys who
forget to bury their chauvinism and male ego call for a difficult love life.
Likewise, women who expect a knight to come and rescue them are usually in
for a rude awakening. Hello?

20. Dominating Partner: A partner
who likes to stand tall over the other and dictate all the terms can never
be a reason for an everlasting bond of love. Relationships shouldn't be power
struggles, but rather equal partnerships full of respect and just
treatment.